


Ripples in a Pond

by Rose_Bride



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: 30 Days of Arc V, Angst, Drabble Collection, F/M, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, M/M, at some point, who are we kidding there's gonna be angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-22 06:44:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 14,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10691871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rose_Bride/pseuds/Rose_Bride
Summary: A rock thrown in the pond,full force, or maybe, just maybe,thousands of pebbles, hurled, dropped,even gently coaxed into the waterripples, reverberating, echoing,growing into a groundswell...





	1. Zero Child

“How are you feeling?” He asked the moment the nurse finally allowed him to enter the room.

“He, always such a worrywart…” She spoke the moment he was on her line of sight, it was surprising how even through the weight of anesthesia, exhaustion and overall atmosphere her implacable wit managed to break through.

How had such a woman ever seen something worthwhile on his person for a date, a relationship, and marriage it was beyond him?

And she was granting him with a child.

“You should try to get some sleep, those were some long 37 hours.” Leo said taking notice of the slight bags under her eyes.

“…Only that? Please I’ve spent more hours awake while negotiating merge deals…” Himika countered with a smirk.

“Is that so? I’m sure none if them were spent attempting to give birth to a child.”

“Attempting? I don’t fancy the sound of that. May I remind you that you’re now a _father_?”

.

.

.

_‘…Father!’_

_._

_._

_._

“Leo?” She asked and he had to shake his head, she sounded concerned. “Are you okay?”

“…Yes, why would I not be?”

“Because you zoned out for a whole minute.”

“Sorry, I supposed I have to process all of this, we’re parents now…”

“Well, now is a good time as any...”

Before he could ask what she meant, the door opened to show the nurse back in the room.

She was not alone however.

“Mr. And Mrs. Akaba, we’ve finished the routine tests and I’m pleased to announce you have a healthy baby, congratulations.”

While the woman was speaking she deposited a bundle of sheets and towels on his wife’s lap, anything else that the woman was saying went ignored as he stared at the tiny person inside the mess of blankets.

_‘I’m a father… again…’_

…What? He willed the unwanted though away, it was becoming worrisome how often he was having these… bouts.

But now it was no time to focus on himself.

“Well?”

“Eh?” He whirled his head back at Himika.

“Good god, you’re unbelievable… I asked you if you’ve thought about names yet.”

Right, a name, boy’s names he remembered going through book after book of kanji and names, including a ridiculous one filled with pointless anecdotes and drawings given to him by Yusho.

He got nothing.

Then he felt an unfamiliar pressure on his hand… a tiny hand, and he found himself staring at dark eyes, still too young to have any color on them but he thought they might look purple in the future…

_‘I just don’t want to lose you!!’_

Maybe…

 “Rei… Reiji.”

“Reiji? Isn’t that a little… simple?” Himika asked.

“I’ve already thought about it…We’ll use the kanji of ‘zero’ so it’ll mean…”

“Zero child? …” Himika said apparently deep in thought. “Zero is not a worthless number, nor it stands for nothingness, if anything _nothing_ can exist without it… the foundation of everything, the beginning… I like it.

“You do?” He asked a little surprised.

“Yes he’s _our_ child so it’s natural that he will be meant for great things, so the name is appropriate.”

.

.

.

_‘Ray!’_

.

.

.

“Yes… it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...So this is where I attempt to fill as many prompts for the Arc V 30 days anniversary... in which not only I started late but I already skipped the first prompt (Happy 3 year anniversary) because I got nothing for it, it's too specifific for me, so this is the one I mad for the Day 2 prompt: Beggining.


	2. The (Morning) Star

“Are you feeling better now?” Yusho asked once Yuya had his Pendulum back around his neck, he just nodded his answer and smiling. “Good, it’s getting dark we should head home now or Mom won’t let us have dinner.”

“Yes!” Yuya said hopping into his arms, getting a little huff out of him, he was getting bigger and heavier as time went.

Or he was just getting older, either way his back would hurt tomorrow.

“Look Dad! The stars are already coming out!!” His boy said pointing at the still orange sky almost making his hat fly off his head in the process, but he still looked at the direction he pointed to see that indeed, despite the sun still visible on the sky there was a tiny star starting to show on the horizon. “It’s like Mom right? A shooting star!”

Yuya was pointing at the star on his goggles as he said this, a memento of Yoko’s days as of a biker gang which their son had decided to appropriate when he found them on an old box, Yusho laughed a little at this memory.

“Close, but no.” he said waiting for Yuya to ask a question, which he did via a look of mild disappointment. “That is not quite a star, it’s Venus.”

“Venus? Isn’t that a like a...” He closed his eyes trying to remember the word and Yusho allowed him to. “Got it! Isn’t Venus a planet?”

“Very good Yuya! That’s right Venus one of the closest planets to ours.”

“Really?” Yuya asked squinting his eyes at it, “But it look nothing like in the images and it’s so small!”

“Of course, the space it’s still pretty far away Yuya, but the fact that we see it now at the sundown it’s proof of how close it really is, that’s why it’s also called the Evening Star.”

“Oh! I think I’ve heard that before...” Yuya spoke again, but this time Yusho could tell whatever memory he had of that name was too foggy for him to remember without help.

“Maybe you’ve heard it called _‘Lucifer’_?” He supplied and waited to see if Yuya’s eyes got that glint whenever he knew he was excited.

“YES!!” He said yelling in his ear but he withstood to see what else Yuya had to say, “It’s a story right? About a demon who wanted to destroy God and took over the world.... Um... why would they call such a pretty star after a demon?”

“...Because it wasn’t always a demon, Lucifer was the most perfect and powerful of God’s angels and he was loved by everyone, but he rebelled against the Heavens-”

“Even though he was loved?” Yuya asked his eyes a little clouded as they did whenever something sad happened on stories or movies.

“Yes despite he was loved he choose to become evil and was casted aside by God as Demon, people say that from that day that Venus represents his fall from Heaven and was called Lucifer, which means _‘The Morning Star’_ ”

Yuya fell quite after this and Yusho took his chance to start walking toward their home before something else caught his attention, or before his arms cramped on place.

“Hey Dad...”

“Yes Yuya?”

“Promise that you and Mom will always love me.” He said burrowing his face on his shoulder and he would lie if he wasn’t puzzled by this but he still held Yuya tighter and stroke his hair before whispering on his ear.

“Of course, Yuya.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...So, there is not much for me to say about this one, it's what it came to mind inmediatly when I read the prompt "Star" and yes I did took liberties with the lore behind the Venus name, no need for any astronomer to jump at my throat for that :P
> 
> It's just seemed like a good idea ok?


	3. Side Effects

“You’re late!” She yelled to the newcomer as soon as he got within hearing range. “What took you so long?” Yuzu asked to him tapping her foot onto the floor, he was twenty-five minutes late, her nerves were crumbling away and she was beginning to regret this decision already.

“Well, excuse me, you try to sneak out of Yuya’s house without stepping into some animal’s tail, waiting for Yuya to get out of the bathroom or being offered some refreshments as a lowly trick to get information out of you.” Sora said stocking out his tongue to her.

Instead of taking the bait, she pointed at the huge chocolate he was eating and with her best deadpan voice she said:

“Yes, I can see it was so _hard_ for you to resist temptation.” Sora seemed to have forgotten that it was in his mouth and he quickly attempted to hide it but Yuzu took his hand and took his treat away.

“Hey! Give it back! You have no idea how much that costs!” He yelled and almost took it from her but she was quicker dangling it above his head.

Sora was not the only one going through a growth spurt.

“I know it cost you nothing, because you probably convinced Yoko-san to give it to you” Yuzu stopped to give him a knowing look at Sora, who just grumbled under his breath. “I’ll give it back to you once we’re done.”

Afterward they walked for a while to the park, until Yuzu found a relatively empty place where they could get down to business.

“Is this about Serena again?” Sora asked sighing. “I already told you everything I know about her, she wasn’t exactly outgoing and is not like the Professor allowed her to wander around all that much.”

“Is not just about her, it’s about _all_ of them.” Yuzu said. “Is just... I thought the feeling of overflowing memories, feelings... all kinds of stuff would eventually fade, that somehow we’d just end up...” She trailed off, no knowing how finish the sentence.

“Fusioned?” Sora asked.

“That’s... one way to put it.” Yuzu admitted. “But I don’t know I feel so... selfish.”

“Selfish?” He repeated once and she knew his eyes wandered off to her wrist, empty now. “Is it because only _you_ came back?”

“Maybe? I mean I know this is something Yuya could help me about, but... he has the dragons you know? I’ve heard him talking with _them_ through these cards, I can’t do that it’s like this endless... banging in my mind and I can’t do anything about it and just want it _stop_.”

“You want your old life back.” It wasn’t a question and Sora didn’t expect an answer. “Have you ever thought about asking Reiji?”

“Reiji Akaba? What does he have to do with this?” Yuzu asked surprised, if she was quite honest she had not spared a thought about him in a quite a while.

“Dunno? Maybe that fact that Reira will probably experience something similar in the future, weren’t both Zarc and Ray inside of him now? Maybe he can even help you all to...” The way he moved his finger as if to break something would be hilarious in any other situation.

“I think it’s a baby girl now, and the Nature Cards are gone.” She reminded him.

“Whatever, do you really think _the_ Reiji we know will have done nothing by then? Yuya created the Pendulum cards out of thin air and Reiji still found a way to make his own.” Sora asked. “If you ask him I’m sure he’ll help you, and if you ask me his family own you a big deal, you could at least ask him for some compensation you know? Then maybe we can finally remodel Yushow Duel School”

The way he smiled at saying that ridiculous thing was her undoing and they both burst into laughter, the type that made her belly hurt and her cheeks ache, before she finally calmed down.

“That’s not nice....Reiji is not at fault for his father’s mistakes.” She said after wiping her eyes.

“Tch, you take the fun out of everything.” Sora said a bit out of breath. “Hey, if you need someone to go an intimidate them with, you know you can always count with the All Mighty Teacher right?”

“I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to write something about these two okay? The prompt was "Aftermath"


	4. Surprise!

The lights were off… Odd, since Nakajima always made sure to left them on when he entered to leave his coffee and pending papers first thing in the morning.

***POP* *CRACKLE***

That was the first thing he was able to make out the moment he entered his office, when his hand finally found the switch his sight was filled with confetti, glitter and paper ribbons, which he would probably stick to his hair and clothes all day long and beyond.

So, he took off his glasses to clean them of the stuff at the very least...

**“SURPRISE!!!”**

When Reiji’s eyes finally focused on the sight in front of him, he had to suppress the exclamation out of his mouth:

There in the middle of his office someone had managed to fit a huge table along with at least a dozen of chairs and in the middle of it a huge cake with lots of decorative figurines and fruits, but that was arguably the least extravagant object for the entire place had been filled with balloons of all colors, shapes and sizes, there where streamers all over the windows and the walls.

It was almost too much color, he had to blink a few times to process it all.

Of course in the middle of the room, barely a couple of feet from there was Yuya Sakaki, Yuzu Hiragi, Gongenzaka, Sawatari, Dennis Macfield, Sora Shiunin, Tsukikage and Hikage, Mikio, Mieru... a couple of children and other people whose names escaped his mind right now....

All of them wore clothes more formal than what he was used to see them with and wore party hats, this was a party.

“Uh, is he okay?” Asked someone in a whisper.

“Sssh, don’t be rude Ayu!”

“But he’s just there! Staring at us like a statue!”

“Yuya, what do we do now?!”

“I see you’re busy, I would appreciate if next time you left a message to Nakajima if you need to use my office for something but I’ll leave you to it now-”

“WAIT!!” He was slightly taken aback by everyone’s yelling at the same time and he froze in spot, waiting for an explanation, then there was someone tugging at his arm, it was Yuya with a sweat drop on his face but smiling nonetheless.

“Reiji, don’t leave, you are invited!” He said and forced him to take a step inside, then he felt his other arm being grabbed by Yuzu Hiragi.

“Sorry... did we scare you?” she asked a little concerned. “This was my idea so...”

“Not scared” He hurried to say. “Just... unexpected...”

“Well duh! That’s the entire point of surprise birthday party!” intervened Sora with a mocking gesture on his face. “Can we have cake now?”

_‘Birthday... whose birthday?’_ He thought almost frantically, going over what he knew of the people present in the room... but he had nothing, this wasn’t the type of thing he was used to keep on his mind... _‘The cake...’_

Reiji adjusted his glasses to read what the chocolate plaque said:

**“HAPPY 17 TH BIRTHDAY REIJI”**

Oh, that cleared things up... and complicated them at the same time.

“I apologize...” What was the right protocol to reject something like this either way? When it had been the last time he celebrated his birthday for that matter? “...For the bother, but I have work to do and I can’t afford to spend much time-”

“Nu-uh, don’t you dare to give us that!” Dennis of all people neared to him bow in front of his taking off his hat. “I mean you had us going through the trouble of sneaking into the highly secured Leo Corps building, which may earn us a felony or two by the way-”

“He’s lying, we borrowed the card key from Nakajima and we had permission from you mother.” Said Gongenzaka in a deadpan tone dragging Dennis from him.

“Yes! I the great and magnificent Sawatari used his connection to make sure everything will run smoothly for a day in the company without its CEO!”

The whole day? He could spare an hour, maybe two but he could definitely not waste a whole day-

“Oh god, would you look at that face! We’re not gonna be holed inside here all day long, this is just the first stop! And we’re not taking a no for an answer!” Yuya said a snicker on his voice.

“Yep he had a whole day of activities planned, we’ve just thought you could warm up to the idea after some games and food!” Yuzu spoke this time. “Um, we understand if this isn’t the type of thing you like to do... we just wanted you to, you know take a day off from work.”

Reiji looked from her, to Yuya, to all the people present in the room, some of them had already started to chat between them, while Sawatari and Gongenzaka seemed to be arguing about something with Dennis in the middle of it.

This was... enjoyable, he would not mind to be with them for day.

“A day off?” He repeated feeling his mouth tugging upward. “I believe I can work myself around that.”

Seeing them all cheer and smile, Reiji felt something warm inside him, something he had not felt in quite a while, it was not unpleasant just unfamiliar.

But he could definitely get used to the feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... This is something I had on my mind for quite a while, because Reiji deserves that and more :DDD
> 
> For the prompt "Holiday"


	5. Ray of Light

“Queen at E4 and that makes jack mate.” He said and watched his opponent’s confident glee morph into that of surprise and then defeat.

“Well, I’ll be damned! You’re too good at this game.” The old man spat out, not in a rude or angry manner, just frustrated, then as he glanced at the clock on the park that marked well past 5 pm. “Damn, I need to head back home or my wife will kill me... Same hour tomorrow?”

“I’ll be waiting.” He agreed, watching him go at all speed.

Leo watched with a slight mirth how he almost tripped into some poor woman carrying her baby and apologized quickly before running again, lately watching people in the park was starting to become the major time consumer of his.

A natural outcome considering he had little else to occupy himself with, that and waiting for someone else to play with him, but at this time most people were already heading back to their homes with their families.

He looked at the clock: 5:30 again and he sighed, maybe he ought to stop-

Someone sat across him interrupting his thoughts, looking at the severe expression on his face he knew he knew the newcomer was not here to play a friendly game, he didn’t expected it.

“You came-”

“I’m only here to tell you to stop sending these.” Reiji interrupted him practically throwing a bunch of letter on top of the board game, all still on their envelope and sealed. “I’m growing tired of intercepting them before Mother reads them.”

“Have you read any of them?” he asked rather than arguing, he knew better than engage on it with him on that.

“Only once, to see your intentions considering you seem to be here every day and leave at the exact same hour I assumed the content of all of these to be similar.” He said adjusting his glasses, but decidedly not looking directly at him.

“As expected coming from you Reiji.” He said not hiding the pride he felt at seeing his son do what he did best. “How is your Mother?” and the moment the question left his mouth Leo knew he made a mistake as he saw Reiji’s eyes sharpen and narrow.

“I fail to see how Mother’s wellbeing is any of your business.” Reiji said with an icy tone, it was one of the ways he and Himika were so much alike.

“We were married for almost ten years.” He reminded him.

“And? You were my father for the exact amount of time and you certainly cared for none but _Ray_ before, and now that she’s gone for good you want to patch things up? I don’t care for your history with Mother but if you think she’ll be happy being a second choice to you then-”

“I’m sorry.” He blurted.

Leo drank on the sight of Reiji taken aback, the way his eyes widened, his lips pursed and his hands tried to find hold on the nearest surface – this time the board game – because it was the first time since he had seen him again that he actually looked his age rather than some mock-adult he tried to be all the time.

It didn’t last as Reiji quickly composed himself and got up from the table.

“No more letters.” He repeated before turning his back on him. But Leo was not about to let his child walk away from him, not this time he grabbed his arm before he could leave and Reiji tensed, his fist balled at his side and Leo would not be surprised if he tried to aim a punch at him.

But he just gave deep breaths before tearing himself away from him.

“I’m not asking for forgiveness from you, you’re Mother or anyone, and I know I lost the right to call myself your father, but I will be here every single say _waiting_ , you understand?” He spoke as clearly as he could but after some moments of silence Reiji just walked away.

Leo stood there for an unknown amount of time watching him as form merged with the crowd once more.

A tiny ray of light blinded him when he tried to look at him again, just like in the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... it was a matter of time until I made something angsty didn't I? This is for the prompt of Day 6: Ray and while I would have loved to write about her, I exhausted much of what i had to say about her in my other fics... for a while anyway, so here is this instead.


	6. Time Flow

Shinji stopped his D-wheel outside their house just for a moment.

Tonight loot had been... poor to say the least, he had gotten a bunch of tuna cans and some water bottles that would last them probably for a couple of weeks tops, and all the fruits and vegetables that were available were frankly disgusting to even look at, nothing but spillovers from the Tops part of the city no doubt.

Well... There were always the undergrounds circuits, a couple of easy bucks there and he would have some cash to buy real food this time... and risk himself to end up on jail again.

“Damn...” He lighted up a cigarette, letting the smoke give some small relief.

“I thought we agreed on not smoking inside the house.” A voice said behind him, it was Crow looking as unamused as he did when he caught Shinji infringing the house rules.

 “Give me a break, we’re not even in the house.” He said blowing some smoke through his nose, the slightly burning sensation was oddly... comfortable, he heard Crow sigh at his response, knowing that he was in one of his moods and picked up the ‘groceries’ .

“As long as the kids don’t watch you... Hey you got some good stuff this time out!” He said flashing that grin of his every time something remotely edible was on sight, for a little bit of leftovers and he planned to tell him as much...

Until he felt him grab his hair and kiss him, which he leaned into and Shinji both loved and hated how such a simple gesture always managed to melt away his ever-present anger.

It took for him a moment to open his eyes when they split.

“...Now if you didn’t reek of smoke this coulda been perfect.” Teased Crow probably amused a whatever stupid expression he had right now,

“Shut up.” He muttered thankful for the dark night hiding his face. “...What’s the big deal? We either die of cancer or of heart attack for all the processed food.”

“Always such a charmer.” Crow said leaning into his shoulder.

“We should get back inside or else they’ll worry.” Shinji suggested after he noticed the hour.

“It’s fine I already put them into bed.”

Ok then, just for a little while...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest I've been wanting to write about these two for quite a while and now I'v finally did it, for the prompt of Day 7: Overflow.


	7. A Beast is Born

It happens little by little.

When people recalls back to the person Zarc they will remember that day in which one of his monsters pierced through his opponent, they will talk about the splattered blood on the floor, about how shocked everyone was...

They will talk about the delighted smile he gave seeing this twisted scenery... what they will never talk about is about the fraying sanity of a young man assaulted by nightmares and voices screaming at him of pain and revenge.

Nobody knows about the spilt tears on the corner of a dark room.

It happens little by little.

Days freeze into nights, the nights melt into days again, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat... soon the pain is gone (the screams are not), soon the tears turn into grins and laughter, soon the taste of blood is something he starts to crave for every day.

In a world made of transient moments, wavering hearts and fickle people it’s the only constant, the voices are the only thing he knows will never change, the ones who will never turn on him.

Sometimes when he looks at the mirror is not his eyes staring back at him, they are eerie and glow faintly like two cold and unmoving stars.... Then it’s not just the eyes, for he knows he doesn’t have fangs (no human does) and the bruises and scars he had so proudly earned start to heal and make place for harder and tougher skin.

His hands change into claws when he looks down on them, washing them off the blood for the nth time of the day.

Today a beast is born, today is the day _I_ die and **he** awakens....

I knew someday the truth with those fangs and claws was going to cause me to be torn apart... but those warm and gentle smiles... I wanted them at any cost.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes this piece was inspired by the song of the same name and by an idea that has been floating around in my head, basically something like 'through the eyes of madness' piece...
> 
> This is for the Day 8 prompt: Beast


	8. Dragon King

Once upon a time there were Four Dragons, they were the reigning dragons over the four gates and each of them guarded held the power of each one of the seasons:

The Violet Dragon was the King of the East Gate he held power over the growth and life of plants, and as such he was the holder of Spring he was known to be very mischievous and playful, he had a penchant to want to annoy other beings and often left his own gate unguarded, convinced that no one would ever dare to get near his possessions.

Too bad he never showed that much of respect for what other people held dear.

The Red Dragon was the King of the South Gate he was lively and passionate, holding power over fire and holder of the power of Summer, despite the fiery reputation his power and season held he was by far the tamest of the Four Dragons, rarely leaving the limits of his realm for fear of being departed to what he held dear the most.

His unassuming nature was judged as cowardly by his fellow dragons and it costed him dearly.

The White Dragon was the King of the West gate, from the four of them he was often regarded as the most majestic and beautiful of them all, his sparkling wings shone the brightest on the calm nights and he held the power of the harvest in Autumn, he was benevolent... but also ambitious and easily angered.

This fickle temperament would be his undoing...

Finally the Black Dragon, King of the North gate and the most feared of them all for being associated with death and the holder of the Winter, his body black as the night was only spoken of in oral tradition and he was known to be a resentful being who would unleash revenge over anyone who wronged him.

As such when he found himself deprived of his most precious possession his roar was said to be heard on the four corners of the world...

.

.

.

Time has passed... people recount tales about fantastic beings just as often as they dismiss them as pure fantasy and use them as inspiration for silly children games, beings like dragons, all of them, not just the Four Dragon Kings were the stuff of legends and picture book.

Such are the thoughts of four young boys:

A prideful and lonely boy dressed in purple reads about them and laughs at them with disdain.

The happy-go-lucky boy who held a lot of hurt behind a goofy smile wishes he could believe in them.

The boy dressed in white has never had a chance to even learn about them.

And the mysterious boy whose childhood was stolen away has long forgotten about such stories.

Yes, this world is no longer a place for beings such as dragons to exists, many of them ascended to heaven becoming one with the Creator God, other simply choose to disappear.

The rest? They simply assumed human forms and forgot all about their powers and past memories living common and normal lives...

...Perhaps we should have started the story by mentioning this... but who cares about such insignificant little detail?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That awkward moment when I realize that the Four Dimensional Dragon were most likely based off the the Four Dragons Kings and I wrote this as a result :P (like their hybrid form was the ultimate proof) 
> 
> This is for the Day 9 prompt: Four


	9. Becoming one with nature...

**花**

“Yuzu!” she heard her Dad call over the window. “It’s getting late and dinner is ready!”

But she still didn’t heed and stayed at their garden for a little longer, staring at the hydrangeas in the garden flourish, all of them had a deep crimson color to them, just like the last season, it didn’t matter how many gardening tips she tried they never seemed to change to the colors she wanted.

Not even the new shrub she _specifically_ asked the flower shop to be white.

“Still nothing?” She heard behind her followed by his hand on her shoulder. “Maybe we should try for other type of soil-”

“Pfft, maybe I’m just a bad gardener.” Yuzu said aware of her moodiness. “Pink and blue are supposed to be the easiest ones, why are they always red?!” she said – more like exclaimed – throwing her arms in the air.

“Careful with that fist, almost got me there.” Her Dad deadpanned. “Don’t feel bad Yuzu, it’s a beautiful garden you know? This place never grew anything but grass and weeds before I got you, and red is the color of life!”

“Dad! What I’ve told you about being so cheesy!” Yuzu said attempting to sound annoyed, maybe red wasn’t so bad of a color.

**鳥**

“Are they still there?” Shun asked moving his shoulders a little making the skirt of her dress pinch against her skin.

“Yep.” She said. “Do I try to move them again?” Ruri asked after one look at the newly made nest, it seemed this time it would be robins.

“Tch... don’t bother, remember last time they tore my clothes to shreds...” He said finally lowering onto the grass so she could come down.

“No fair, that was because you were dumb enough to throw rocks at the mama, everyone knows you shouldn’t so that!” Ruri remembered feeling the laughter coming up, that had been truly a sight to behold.

“Ugh... fine I guess we can learn to live with this.” Shun said with a pout

“Hey why not? I already live with a birdbrained brother.” She teased and was ‘rewarded’ by a ruffling of her hair.

“...As long as you tell mom why there will always be white stains on her car.” He said in a mocking tone.

“Fine...” She muttered under her breath.

That night the birds had been chirping all night long next to Shun’s window and he had not slept a wink resulting a moody but much mellower brother.

Maybe having birds wasn’t so bad.

**風**

“R-Rin! Can we go back already? It’s freaking cold out here!!” Yugo whined instead of passing her the screwdriver that she need for the last piece on the engine.

“Come on! It’s not that bad stop whining so much, we’re almost done!” Rin said not even looking at him, why was this screw so stuck anyway? It was new... or as new as they had come by but still.

“Frick this! What good will a D-wheel be to us if our finger freeze and they like... fall off! We can’t afford prosthetics! And then we will never duel again!”

If it wasn’t because she was still focused on her task she might have rolled her eyes at him.

“Now you’re just being a drama queen... fine you go to the room and I’ll catch up in 20 minutes tops!” She said over the sound of another run test and it seemed Yugo didn’t need to be told twice since he practically dashed out of the door.

Of course it would far more than just twenty minutes before she finally managed to finish, she felt sweaty, tired and her fingers ached but it had been worth it.

Before she resumed her way back to their room she noticed the bit of frost on a nearby broken window...

Looking at her duel disk she tuned the weather to the public broadcast: 5° degrees, the lowest temperature in the past decade.

_‘How?’...._ She thought looking down at the thin fabric of her work onesies and then to the gray skies.

So maybe the wiring had not been defective then.

**月**

“That calendar is wrong.” Serena spoke, interrupting her instructor inane talk about protocol and how she ought to eat her full meals rather than leave the under the bed to rot and attract ants.

“Uh? Lady Serena are you even listening?! This is the second week in a row and-”

“The full moon won’t be in another two days.” She interrupted again. “If you make the moon viewing festival tomorrow you’ll all make fools of yourselves.” Serena smirked at this, maybe she shouldn’t have said so.

If they all got distracted organizing everything then maybe she could...

“With due respect Lady Serena, assuming that you know better than the calendar made by _experts_ , it’s impossible to move the date because in two days we will be receiving new recruits.”

“...Whatever.” She said tuning him out, looking at the night sky the moon mas on its crescent tonight but only barely, only a fool would think tomorrow would anywhere near fool, at the very least it distracted her from the thought of the newbies.

All younger than her and surely allowed to leave for the frontlines before her too... she remembers reading some stupid book about how people used to think that staring at the moon for too long would eventually drive you mad.

But for her, during the lonely nights it was the only real changing thing in her life – among the endless routine and lessons – and the only company she would have on most times too.

If only the one could talk to it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is the longest prompt I've made for this month for the Day 10: Kachouu Fuugetsu (Flower, Birds, Wind, Moon) 
> 
> Wrote this because I love the idea of the girls having some manner of "power leakage" of the nature cards within them and this is what turned out from it.


	10. Feelings

“What do you mean you’ve never had a sleepover?”

Feelings are contagious.

“Would you like a hot chocolate Sora?”

It’s one of those things Sora has been hearing for a whole lot of his stay at Maiami City, doubly so when he started to crash on Yuya’s house, and he actually got to hear it a couple times before in Academia, although it was with a warning note about the dangers of allowing yourself to be feel for the enemy.

“Where are your pajamas Sora?”

After opening up to others it’s just the same as becoming vulnerable, and being vulnerable means failure.

Sora won’t have any of that nonsense.

***WHACK***

“SORA!!!!”

For a couple of moments he was only aware of the room spinning atop of him, not just the room tough, he could swear there were also a couple of red, green, pink and blue colors mixed up with all the white.

“Yuzu! Why did you do that? I’m not Yuya!” He yelled into her face, his head was buzzing.

“Serves you right for not listening!” She said getting on his face.

“Ugh, what?” He asked giving a sip to the mug next to him, it was warm and it made the aching go away.

“Are your parents are fine with letting you stay the night?” Yuzu asked with a pout, her eyebrow lifted ready to pick his answer apart, and Sora had no alibi this time around.

“Sure, why would I be here if they weren’t?”

“Because Yoko-san never got their call as you said _yesterday_.”

Right, that was what he said right, he really needed to be more careful, especially around Yuzu, since she was able to tell if anyone was hiding anything from two miles away, like a week ago Gongenzaka was trying to pretend he had not caught a cold and do his training routine anyway.

Of course that had earned him fan whack and an earful.

“Yeah... they probably forgot, no big deal right?” He attempted to say only to find her hand on his forehead.

“Are you sure you didn’t caught anything from Gongenzaka? You’ve been acting all weird lately.” She pressed.

“If I were sick wouldn’t I have fever or a sneezing by now?” He asked back rolling his eyes.

“Mmm, not necessarily... by the time symptoms show up it’s because you’ve had the virus for a while now.” Yuzu said in thought and shrugging. “But if you say it’s fine then let’s go change okay? Yuya probably has some old sleep clothes to....”

Sora didn’t heard whatever else she said after she went upstairs, looking down at her fan on the floor next to him.

_‘So... by the time symptoms shows up it’s too late huh?’_

In that case he was beyond help by now, he thought flopping down on the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The true question here is... does Yuya's house even have stairs? Because I swear I've never seen any (unless they use the climbing wall seen on the living room...) 
> 
> This is for the Day 11 prompt: Contagious.


	11. Re Birthday

When he woke up, he was alone in the dark.

There was nothing around him, he had no memories, no feelings, anything and could not speak, move, hear or talk. In the middle of everything in this room right atop him there were two unmoving scales and an unmoving object in the middle of them casting a pale glint on him.

Then a voice, one that he knew all too well even if his memories were still as dark as this place, it was eerie and ghastly:

_“You sinful man will never be able to lift this room, for the eternity you shall remain in this state”_

In that moment he was struck with the memories of his life, of all the sins he piled up on himself and the reason why he was in this room... the reason why will never be able to go back to his old life, from them on everything becomes clearer as he is forced to relive his life over and over being unable to anything.

In his hands there are red handcuffs... surely the color of the spilt blood.

On his feet there are blue shackles... like the tears someone shed.

_“Lu, li, la, lu, li, la”_

That song which he came to hear... who was singing this lullaby I wonder?

.

.

.

How much time has passed, does time even pass in this place at all? The memories playing on my head are so burned inside his person that he cannot tell anymore, the only other thing he’s aware off is the resounding song, which heals part of his pain.

The one day he realized the true meaning of that song and started to add new words to it.

Finally there was a blue light coming from the scales on top of the room and the object between them became clear: a pendulum which started to swing back and forth as the room was filled with blinding light.

This is surely the words I had forgotten.

From the pendulum swinging back and forth there is a figure enveloped in light, a voice coming from it:

_“Your sins will forever remain unforgiven, but the words called ‘evil’ and the word called ‘monster’ we will change those into a song.”_

The red handcuffs fell of my wrist and spoke to him: “After this you will be reborn”

The blue shackles fell of and told him: Today is your new birthday.

Everything spins and dies of white as he losses consciousness... surely one day he shall met _her_ again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...So this is like an AU for the Vocaloid song "Re_Birthday" it's a song that I think fits Zarc to the T so I used the lyrics to write this one.
> 
> For the Day 12 prompt: Scales


	12. A Leap of Faith

Reiji has never been someone who takes leaps of faith.

As the older son of a scientist and a business woman whom he always watched achieve great things through careful research and planning what little consideration he had for the idea has been quickly dismissed when witnessing their accomplishments, as a CEO of an important corporation dedicated to make reality the craziest dreams the human mind can think – yes, he’s aware of the irony – he can’t afford to take such high risks, as the leader of the Lancers who has committed himself to protect his homeland even the notion of it can’t be accepted.

Beliefs are not for the people who stands at the top of that type of responsibility, no, they make plans and find possible contrivances in them so the people can have such luxury.

Still, there were three times in his life where Reiji choose to believe on things above reason:

The first was when he witnessed the Pendulum Summon, at last a possible upper hand over the growing threat of a dimensional war, a hope for defeating his father.

Whether Yuya Sakaki deserved that beacon of hope remained to be seen.

The second was when he faced the truth coming out of his father – or his version of the truth – and looking at Yuya being consumed from the inside out, a tiny doubt and then he called out to him to find strength.

For this time he knew that Yuya, his _friend_ , was capable of overcoming this.

The third time was when he looked at Reira’s resolution on his eyes  no longer haunted by doubt or fear, calling to him so he would risk everything he had worked on for this moment, to let danger loom above the heads of millions of people... to let him fulfill Ray’s will.

It would take time for Reiji to realize that back then he had _envied_ Reira for allowing himself to believe wholeheartedly in what others would call a lost cause, that he envied Ray for being able to inspire such feelings in his little brother.

“Mama...” The tiny voice interrupted his train of thought, he raised from his seat to the crib positioned next to the window, carefully positioned to it would receive enough warmth but not too much sunlight either.

The tiny figure on the bedding was looking at him with wide eyes and it even though he wasn’t the person they called, there still a little gurgle and then a smile on their face,

Reiji reached out to touch the curls of his hair, causing the smile to turn into a full giggle, the tiny hands attempting to grab his own, doctors said that babies that young don’t have color in their eyes, or smile just yet but he knew better.

“Re... Reji”

Right now he had chosen to believe in that too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically I wrote this not just for the Day 13 prompt (Superstition) but because someone made me notice I didn't include Reira on my other ficlet (Surprise!) ...but then again Reira is a baby now so... yeah not many places you can take a baby with you :P
> 
> But still, I likes how this one turned out.


	13. Unfair

You’re either a Common or a Top.

There’s no middle-ground and Rin doesn’t know when she started to think about it, but she finds the lack of it in the City a little strange.

There are two types of people in the world: winners and losers and that determines the lot you get in life, this is something she has been told endlessly since she has memory of anything, be it officers who often said so with a cheeky grin on their faces – how she wanted to punch them sometimes! –  or even the kinder but still condescending grownups who she had been handed from over and over; because apparently she has a ‘troubling temper’.

And here she was again... Rin probably shouldn’t have kicked that Top’s girl who had tried to steal her bracelet, claiming that a filthy and loser commoner like her was not fit for something pretty...

Next thing she knows she’s being put in a car by two men – both holding her by the arms – while she watches her home drift away was in the distances, the Top girl watching with a smirk on her face while being held in her father’s arms: the owner of the building.

Of course no punishment is ever handed to her.

She tries not to notice how filthier and smaller everything gets with each turn the car gives, tries to feel relieved that she still has her bracelet with her; the only thing she can consider truly hers; but the tears still sting at the corner of her eyes.

When it finally stops the man deposit her in front of a woman wearing black and white clothes, kinda like a penguin, who looked down at her with pity, before she can step forward the man tightens his hold on her shoulder and tell her:

“This is your last chance little girl, this is the only place that would take a troublemaker like you... if you act up again, well, the only place lower than this is _underground_ get it?” She only nods not letting them have the satisfaction of seeing the shivering fear running down her back.

All losers will always be losers, _(‘now, where did **you** get such a cute trinket? I bet you stole it’_ ) and all winners will always remain winners ( _‘don’t worry sir, that girl will ever bother your daughter again’_ ), all crimes are equal and dealt with properly. _(‘I’m sorry Rin but you know the rules’_ )

No middle ground at all... how unfair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... this was my take on the Day 14 prompt: The Middle, featuring Rin!
> 
> I honestly couldn't think of anything else (I'm guessing some people took this as a middle ages AU or something but that didn't sit well for me so... here you go!


	14. Physics

In physics there’s this phenomena where a breakdown of energy that happens when you put to electrodes with different voltage are put one against the other, the electric discharge that forms a visible electricity through gas gives many times the form of arc, hence the name:

An electric Arc.

Ray had never thought that one of her Dad’s lesson on science would ever be applicable to her life, or at least not in such a literal way, yet here she was... somewhere which her mind couldn’t fully process for it was light and dark, small an big, up and downside... it gave her a serious headache to try thinking about it, so she settles for calling it somewhere that lacked form or definition

Well, everything except for her and Zarc.

They were always facing each other, unmoving and eyes fixed onto the other and never talking – Ray wasn’t sure she would be able to talk if she tried – and this strange energy connecting both of their forms.

This was it, her afterlife was being forever trapped in some type of stasis with no other companion than her enemy looking at her with undecipherable hatred.

_“I will never forgive you!”_

Well, she would never forgive _him_.

For destroying everything she knew, for forcing her father’s hand... for her own demise, she made sure to return every bit of loathe he may had for her in her own gaze, just to make sure he would ever forget her face, the one pitiful human girl who had defeated him.

Ray is not sure when she realized that the energy connecting both of them responded to these feelings.

Maybe it was when – during small moments of tiredness – she got tired of feeling hatred, or just feeling altogether.

Maybe it was when she realized Zarc started to send different feeling through this... bond they shared – what was the point on denying a fact? – And he felt his boredom.

His amusement, his apathy, his anger... his loneliness, his anguish.

Ray tries, she really tried not to let herself be affected by them, but it’s useless, particularly when they are only aware of each other and nothing else, and soon she is also testing the waters and sending her own baggage to him.

It’s much easier said than done, half of the time she was not sure if it worked but then – as she found out eventually – he was _very_ responsive to them.

Maybe he had no idea either how this arc between the two worked, but they both know what has done to them.

The moment both sides send the same feelings of comfort, warmth... and longing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where i let out some of my nerdiest side of me in very free interpretation of the Day 15 prompt: Arc


	15. Another Day

First it’s the simple and practical underwear they are all given, then the mesh undershirts and shorts you get with your uniform, protection before anything, then the actual clothes: the skirt is form fitting to the lower half, not too loose or too tight to get in the way, then the jacket, not a single crease in it must be noticeable and it must be perfectly buttoned up, at last you must tie you hair up in a single ponytail or braid that won’t get in the way during the battle field or just be an overall nuisance.

Serena stops to look at her in her full-length mirror, in which she detects no mistakes in the slightest.

Wake up at 6:00 am in the morning, you only get half an hour to get a shower, dress up and come down to have breakfast – with food only previously approved by the nutritionist – from 6:30 to 7:30, not one minute more or one minute less, you are also not supposed to leave even a sip or crumb of leftovers.

Between 7:30 and 8:00 will be the only recreation time you get, which actually doubles more as a warming up time since there are two whole hours of field practice, first on the obstacle course, then one the simulation chambers.

Afterwards it’s just lessons – with a small window time to give honors to the Academia’s founder and its noble purpose – and then you get to have dinner (also pre-approved) and you get to do your afterschool duties: whether it was homework, essays, rounds or just plain studying depended on your approved schedule for the week.

But before going to bed Serena has only last duty to fulfill, and as she stands in front of the door and takes a breath before knocking... also because there was one minute before her appointment and she always made sure to be right on time.

Everything is as usual:

They take her vitals – reflexes, heart rate, blood pressure, temperature – then take a small sample of her blood and of her saliva.

She is then locked into a tube where there’s a green glow whenever she it starts being powered up, there is never a specific amount of time to spend in there, sometimes is minutes, other hours and one time she had to stay there for whole day.

This time is minutes.

“Everything seems to be in order, Lady Serena...” The doctor said never looking up from his chart. “See you tomorrow.” And she stays there for a full minute before stepping out from the tube for it always left her feeling slightly dizzy.

She picks up her stuff from the chair and walk the long way from the laboratory to her dorm in the north tower

Another day, just like any other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now it's Serena's turn to feature on this fic with the Day 16 prompt: Rituals... part of me feels a littel guilty for not making this about actual Rituals but I'm not sure what could I have written about so here you go with the moonlight princess instead.


	16. Good Morning

It was already summer upon Maiami City and as usual weather was already on the rise along with humidity and nasty vermin. Of course none of those thing would ever stop him from doing his accustomed drills all over the neighborhood, as long as he was careful with his warm ups and keep himself properly hydrated it was no problem to adapt.

The man Gongenzaka would never let himself be defeated for something as ridiculous as a heat wave.

As his family dojo came into view for the ninth time he checked it on his head, only one more to go... or at least he would if a silhouette wasn’t making itself clearer in among the fog of his slightly dizzy sight.

He should stop to take more water.

“Gongenzaka! Good Morning!” she greeted him handing him a bottle of water.

“Good...” He started. “...Morning.” It wasn’t like him to talk in between sips but the water felt too good down his throat and he knew Yuzu didn’t mind, that’s when he noticed she was wearing her sports clothing and while as usual never having a hair out of place she also looked tired and slightly sweaty.

“Finished up?” She asked after he wiped his mouth. “Such a drag to exercise on this heat right? But I need to get back in shape, I heard the Junior Youth Championship qualifications will be moved forward this year!” She all but exclaimed with a fist on the air.

Gongenzaka had missed her enthusiasm, her smile... well, he had simply missed _her_.

“Indeed! I the man the Gongenzaka heard the same rumor and since Yuya is already a pro it would be a real shame if we slacked off.”

“I was thinking...” then she got a little bashful and scratched her cheek a little, which amused Gongenzaka while he wondered if he always payed this much attention to her before her abduction...  “...Maybe we can train together? Since we’re set on the same goal?”

Did she even need to ask? No of course not, she was just being nice as usual.

“We should start tomorrow then for I am already finished and I the man Gongenzaka am nothing if not punctual!” He said in a huff. “And I shall demand the same of everyone else!”

Her laughter had been a little unexpected but no less welcome, after all this was the reason he had accepted to become a Lancer too, to hear her being happy again, it had all been worth it.

“Sorry... I’m not laughing at you, I just... missed this...” She said a little embarrassed.

“It has been a while indeed.”

“Thank you Gongenzaka... for everything.” She said and the look on her eyes made clear to what extent she was grateful.

Gongenzaka was grateful too, because never in the world could he have asked for better friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay I been wanting to write about these two for a while and I think the prompt of Day 17 (Grateful) was perfect for them, the ont thing I wish we would have gotten more in the series was more moments between them.


	17. Same Old Life

There’s only one thing that never changes is that _everything_ changes... Those are the type of stuff people say so often that you may as well be able to hear it once every other day and it’s not like she doubts it’s true, she has seen it happened many times:

People grow, they get taller, bigger, smarter; sometimes is not always for the good, sometimes people don’t age gracefully, sometimes people reach their peak at a young age and when you already reached the top, there is no other place let to go but down.

Ruri wishes she could change too.

Sure recently she got taller and she has been letting her hair grow long – no matter how much more effort it takes to take care of it – she bought herself new clothes and when she looks at herself in the mirror she notices her softer lines turning into sharper more angled features.

Then why does it feel like she’s still the same person she was one, two, three... many years ago? Her favorite color, her preferred snacks the type of shows she watches on TV or online stream they are always the same.

At school she still has average grades and performance, she has been seating in the same spot since 1st grade and at lunch she still goes to sit with Shun under that tree behind the school building – it’s a _great_ luck that both buildings are so close to each other – Because Ruri has no other friends.

He has always been there for her, she doesn’t think she has many memories that doesn’t include him in some way or another... even after he got accepted into the Dueling School they still do the same routine – It’s such a _great_ thing that both schools are adjacent – It’s not like she blames him for anything, he only looks out for her as he always has and it makes her feel awful every time she wonders the type of person she would had she and Shun not been siblings.

“Ruri! Are you even listening?” Shun asked and she almost choked on the rice she had been eating. “Jeez at least try to eat properly will you?” he said reaching for a napkin.

Ruri barely caught it before he actually attempted to clean her chin himself, which was way more _help_ than she was willing to take.

“Sorry... what were you saying?” She asked.

“About the application you made for Dueling School...” Shun said. “The results are in.”

“But... I thought they would be posted until a week later-”

“I took the liberty to ask the teachers about your results.” He said as if it was the most natural thing in the world, of course. “You’ll be on the Clover branch with me.”

“Oh... that’s great.” Of course it was, then why she had no more appetite?

“You don’t look so excited... “He said with a pout, looking down at her, of course he was way taller now, but he had always done that anyway.

“Of course I am! I just didn’t expect anything yet, but we get to be together right?” She said putting he lunch box away.

“Yeah I might have suggested it since the teacher told me that you didn’t check the box for a preferred branch on your application did you forget?” He asked.

“Yeah... I probably did.” Ruri answered, cursing in her head for not just marking the Hearts or the Diamond branches.

“It’s ok, I handled it.”

Yes he did, he always did and Ruri was left on the same place as before, looking at his back again.

She really thought she could change this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, since I've written stuff for the other girls, I thought why I shouldn't try to write about Ruri... which it's hard considering how little canon info we have about her so I kinda tuned it into the subject of this chapter.
> 
> For the prompt of Day 18: Change


	18. On Edge

Failure, this whole damn mission was a _failure_.

The word fell like a ton of bricks on Dennis’ shoulders, not only had he failed – Because Yuri would pin this on him no doubt – to retrieve Yuzu but they had also lost Serena who had happily wandered on defector territory, no, not defector, she was willingly helping the enemy so that made her a _traitor_.

 “Should we be expecting an attack soon?” The voice on the other side of his disk asked.

“I’m afraid I have no reliable information on that, I believe the full plans will be disclosed until tomorrow morning.” And he was not about to risk communicating with Academia inside LDS main headquarters.

“Understood we will be waiting for an update.” 

Now he was stuck on this dimension in order to keep an eye on her and make sure to find Yuzu before any of the Lancers did.

All because of the whim of one single girl, he almost wanted to laugh this, so she was unhappy with her life in Academia? Then she could join the club! Just because she was so coddled by the Professor she was able to get away with this.

_‘What? Are you jealous?’_

No, I’m angry that I have to be stationed here with no immediate plans and keeping tags because someone decided they had a conscience.

_‘At least she has one... ‘_

“Shut it!” He yelled, earning some weirded out looks from the people on the park, he supposed they weren’t used to people yelling at a puddle. “Tch, she’s no better than a rebellious brat, prancing around on her new freedom.”

_‘She took a stand and **earned** that freedom, which is more you can say about us...’_

He had not comeback for that, and he couldn’t help but wonder when had he started to walk on the edge of _everything_ when back then everything had felt so grounded and secure, he wished for that feeling back.

But he had a feeling he would fail at that either way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I noticed I had not written anything about Dennis for this and I had to fix it, this is for the Day 19 prompt: Failure


	19. Golden Week

“Wow! This place is beautiful!” Ayu exclaimed when the moment they all got off the van. “Look guys the sea is so blue and the sand so white!”

“It’s giving me the shivers!” Futoshi said, his eyes a little teary.

“I can’t wait to see how many octopus we can find!” Tatsuya said and before anyone could tell them anything there already skipping over to the beach, with the Principal chasing them for not even changing out from their clothes.

“Hmph! They couldn’t even wait for us to unload all their stuff from the car.” commented Yuya shielding his eyes from the sun.

“You talk as if Gongenzaka isn’t the one shouldering all our luggage.” Yuzu teased behind him putting on sunglasses.

“But... he offered!” Yuya complained ready to get into another jab exchanges with her.

“That is... quite a sight to behold.” Said someone from door of the house they had just parked in, Reiji’s eyes were locked on the the Principal still attempting to drag the kids back to the house.

Yuya almost laughed at his face.

“Believe me it gets old after a while.” Yuzu said with a face palm, “But, it’s nice to see them so excited, thank you for inviting us over Reiji” she added bowing her head a little.

“Yeah! Since it’s the golden week the public beach it’s full of tourists! But here it’s so calm, it’s nice for a change!”

“It was no problem, are the others arriving soon?” He asked coming down the wooden staircase, Yuya tried not to be amazed that his pale skin wasn’t already red from the blazing sun.

“Oh yes, don’t worry, we took off first because Sawatari kept loading his Dad’s car with an unbelievable amount of suitcases and Sora said he would carpool with Dennis and Asuka.”

“I see,” He said adjusting his glasses.  “Make yourselves comfortable in the meanwhile, I shall take care of some businesses-”

“Wait!” Yuya said before he could really think about it, and he regretted it the moment both Reiji’s and Yuzu’s curious gazes were fixed on him. “Sorry... but can we like hang out for a while?”

Reiji raised an eyebrow and looked dubious, so Yuya looked at Yuzu for support, she nodded and walked towards him.

“Of course! This is our vacation! Which includes you, and we won’t take no for an answer! Where’s your swimsuit anyway? This is a _beach_ you know? Besides you’ll get a sunstroke with that sweater and scarf you know that’s common sense right?” She finished her stand all firm and her hand pointing at him in an accusatory tone.

Yuya had to admire her ability to look down on him even though she was at least a head shorter than him, because even if he concealed well, he could tell Reiji had no good argument against hers.

At the end he just took a deep breath and said:

“Since you put it like that... I suppose it would be rude not to join the group.” He said with tiny smile.

Yuya just smiled throughout at listening this, this week would surely be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this is for the Day 20 prompt: Beach.
> 
> Can you tell how I love putting Reiji on awkward situations?


	20. Handiwork

After a couple weeks, Yuya decides to make a shrine.

When he brings it up to her parents they both look surprised and exchange looks, his Dad looks worried and his Mom given him a look – he’s still not sure what that look means, but whenever she does it, Dad has no further objections on anything – and she offers to help him.

Yuya is grateful for the offer but he shakes his head and just asks her what will be need in order to make it, he also denies the money she tries to give him, Yuya has already decided he will use his own allowance to buy the supplies.

With Yuzu and surprisingly enough Sawatari’s help he makes the charms on the arts class, and Yuzu particularly helps him to draw a portrait – he had no idea she was skilled at it – since there were no photographs available.

Gongenzaka accompanies him to the local temple to have the charms blessed and he buys, the white paper, the incense, a candle and a couple of red ribbons he also makes a prayer on his friend’s suggestions. When he gets home the living room table has been moved to make enough space, both for Yuya to work and to place the end result... which ends up looking slightly crooked and more or less rough looking.

Yuya still feels proud of it, given that he’s never been good and craftsmanship let alone this type of stuff. He places the drawn portrait at the center, careful to keep it covered on white paper and prepares the incense and the candle, at last he prepares the charms he and his friends made:

They all say things like: ‘Smile!’, ‘Cheer up!’ and other good wishes. At last Yuya places the four dragon cards in front of the picture and makes a small prayer and keep a minute of silence.

The name on the bottom of the picture stares back at him after he’s done: **‘Zarc’**... he’s not sure if it’s written correctly but a part of him is capable of knowing that it’s not the important part.

A shrine means to be parted, to be remembered and to be forgiven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one I have been wanting to write too, mostly because I think I finally caught up with all the Shinto and Buddhist themes in Arc V
> 
> For the Day 21 prompt: Memorial


	21. Moonlit

When Yuri took off his bôgu sweat was dripping off his forehead, neck and hair, and he could really use some water right now but even as he felt his lungs about to give out he stood up and faces his teacher.

He had finally done it and he couldn’t wait for her praise to fill him.

“It was... as good as it gets.” He tried not to let his shoulders sink as she was obviously peering at him like a hawk.  “However you’ve shown a great improvement on your hindsight and restraint, so I believe you are now ready to start training with the other apprentices.” The old woman said after he was done with his demonstration.

He lost his breath at this, finally he could get to meet other people his own age and mingle with them and get to have _friends_...

“Getting excited I see.” The old woman said with mirth on her voice with never failed to annoy him.

“Pfft, Please I’m just glad I finally get to clean myself at an actual bathhouse rather than some dirty and cold pond or lake.” He said with a wave of his hand.

“A good time as any then, pick up your sword and other stuff and come with me.”

“Wh- but can I fix myself a little? Get on some clean clothes?” How was he supposed to make a good impression like this? Sweat, dirt and grass sticking _everywhere_ on his body.

“Oh, I thought you said you were excited to use an actual _bath_.”

Yuri had nothing to say about that... Damned woman.

* * *

 

“Hey Teacher!? Who’s that one?” “Is he like your grandson or something?” “Do we get him into initiation soon?” “Can’t wait to see what he’s made off!”

Those were some of the question Yuri could make out from all the people surrounding the teacher, some were old like the teacher, others where younger than him and others were in the middle.

The Teacher answered none of these, and rushed him to the farthest of the training grounds claiming that he wanted to show him something.

“She’s has the best swordsmanship around here, but like you she has a bit of an ‘attitude’ problem so I thought you might get along or tear each other apart, whichever comes first, either way less tasks for the others.”

**_*SWOOSH*_ **

The sounds of a blade cutting through the air reached him before he could see the actual place, they sounded powerful but precise and fast, he hurried to the courtyard when his eyes started to make out a silhouette moving through the ground a curved blade on her hands.

The nearer he got the more details he caught: red garments, medium height, slim but toned frame, bluish hair that she held up on with a ribbon.

***DASH***

There were trees surrounding the training courtyard and since autumn was already upon the island the leaves were fluttering on the middle of the air, but she still remained focused on her movements that now he was close enough he realized he could match to dancing steps.

***FASH***

Yuri realized then that what looked like a training routine for others it followed a pattern, an objective, even now when she was at the center, completely unmoved and bathed on the moonlight her body was tensed up, ready to react to any disturbance.

And Yuri could not for the life of him make a sound, move a muscle or tear his eyes away from the sight, a great contrast with the turmoil he felt rising inside him, starting on his belly and going up to his now thunderous heartbeat...

He had to do _something_ to get rid of this but he felt frozen in place, then a gasp came out from him without permission, product of his breathing accelerating for no reason at all...

***FWOOSH***

There was a slight flash from the corner of his eyes and when he realized he was staring at the greenest eyes he had ever watched, glinting because of the blade she held up on the middle of her face, pointing it at his heart.

“Selena...” The old woman said behind and the spell was broken, “This will be your new training partner, try not to destroy the courtyard this time.”

Yuri’s mind repeated his name on a loop as he watched her sheath her sword, she regarded him as he was something she would stomp with his foot and walked away.

It was only after she left that he got back his ability to move, speak and breathe.

* * *

 

Selena let herself rest on the screen, far away from prying eyes of the most fascinating shade of violet she had ever seen and she rubbed her cheeks to keep the image out of her mind.

Her mind reeling back to that one time, one that she had wandered to the forest explicitly disobeying the teacher, she had stumbled on a person coming out from the water, their skin glowing on the moonlight and even though she could not see their face clearly she had found it impossible to tear her eyes from the sight.

Until the wolves’ howling made her go back to her sense. The feeling those eyes provoked in her was too similar to that time...

It was probably just the fatigue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tend to associate the word of this prompt with the moon, so I eneded up doing a random predatorshipping AU... which I'm honestly surprised I didn't wrote before :P
> 
> For the Day 22 prompt: Bewitching


	22. Home Sweet Home

When he comes back to the facility, Yugo walks past the children and the sister barely aware of whatever it is they’re trying to tell him, he does nothing except push over the D-Wheel to the shack he and Rin had turned into a makeshift workshop.

Rin... his eyes can’t help but drift to her red overalls hanging on the wall, along with her duel disk and some of her mechanics books they had both borrowed from the library.

He still had not mustered the courage to return them, or even to move any of her stuff which were now starting to gather some dust, if it was up to him he would have never came back here, at least not until he found her, but repairs were needed and the tools were all in this place.

Still... the moment he entered the shabby place, his mood dampened and he knew he wanted nothing but to sneak into his bed and sleep, so he pulled out the cot and the blanket he kept inside a box below the table and rolled it out on the wooden floor.

Yugo had not wanted to sleep on their room again either, he had tried exactly once and had not slept a wink, either because everything in the room reminded him to her, or because the sheets still had her smell and he didn’t want it to go way.

He hates being alone, he _hates_ it, even before meeting her he’s not sure if he ever liked it, because being by yourself means there’s no one to talk to, and if no one talks, then you have no choice but to listen to your thoughts....

And that always depressed him, loneliness really ruins everything... If only Rin hadn’t been alone then...

At least here he can occupy himself with all the diagrams and mess left around until he’s too tired to open his eyes again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... There isn't much to say about this one, just a little idea I have for what did Yugo did on those days where the hints of where Rin could be were cold, he had to rest or eat everyonce on a while, and this came up.
> 
> For the day 23 prompt: Alone


	23. Je Ne Sais Quoi

The first time Ray met Zarc it was on the battlefield, as it was expected there was not much to tell to each other back them except exchanging some trash talk and insults. Now they have more than enough time to truly know each other in this... _afterlife_ they both share, without words, duels or even touches, only this link between the two that on good days has her angry and annoyed at his petty emotions sent over to her given than here, there is no place for banter, on bad days she wishes they could both just disappear because of the complete exhaustion that their exchange of raw emotions causes her.

Ray prefers the former because she can handle the Supreme King Zarc, with his self-deluded sense of grandeur and arrogance, she knows when to let his blows slide and when to cut him off to leave him into a reluctant silence.

It’s the Zarc that lashes out the worst possible insults, talking about revenge and despair, the one whose anger flares up until it turns off leaving nothing but a mess of a boy-barely-turned-man that throws her out of her depth.

The problem being that the Supreme King only ever stirs with a plan in mind to have her respond in kind, his anger, his insults and low blows... there’s something weirdly _systematic_ about them, but Zarc, the human is always there present on the edges of her mind, always moping around and picking apart her emotions with child-like wonder.

On the worse days, Ray can’t hardly differentiate her own emotions of his own, she recoils from the closeness, and he embraces it and seems to finds comfort on it.

Ray is not sure why one day the mesh of emotions on her mind finally forms words that scream at him:

_“Get out of my head!”_ He seems taken aback for all but two seconds before he muses for a minute and send his rebuttal

_“Can’t”_

_“Can’t or won’t?”_

_“Does it matter? Is not like we have anyone else but each other.”_ He said and Ray was not sure if this was the King or Zarc for he sounded pleased and pensive on equal measure.

Before she can counter his argument he send over to her what can only be described as a storm of thoughts, words and feelings, unlike other times this is not past or present feelings, because it shows an older version of himself... and of herself, together on a field sharing an embrace, the image is so detailed she can see a necklace around her neck and knows in this mental scenario _he_ gave it to her.

_“Stop... STOP!”_

_“We belong together I can see that now...”_ He says not pushing, or intrusive, it almost like a whisper _. “We could have... in another life.”_

_“You hate me... and I hate you.”_ She says once the image fades into white. _“Don’t you think that us **killing each other** makes whatever feelings you **think** you have for me a little bit misplaced?”_

_“Maybe... but it couldn’t have been anybody else, I knew the moment I saw you... something about you made me face you instead of just killing you... I would have never offered the same courtesy to your father... and I believe you knew.”_

Yes, she did, he had caught her eye since before his awakening, but she had stayed away for her own safety too, there was a part of her until that awful day that always wondered _‘What if?’..._ Ray knows that Zarc is feeling it too and now that he’s knows too rather than be smug about it, he crashes into a heap of grief tears and regrets washes over him, the both of them.

It was one thing to dream – He’s always been a big dreamer – but to have it confirmed? It’s bittersweet at best in between the whirling of his emotion she can hear the words ‘What If’ replayed over and over.

She notices his tears at the same time he notices hers, shed for a unwanted life and an unwanted fate, and all that never was...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This could be seen as a continueation for the one I made for the "Arc" prompt (Physics)
> 
> If you think the title has nothing to do with the prompt (Everybody), then look online please ;D


	24. Welcome

Fusion.

This was the first lesson Asuka had learned since the first day at Academia, her place of birth was not the city of Blühen, it was the Fusion Dimension the place that she and everyone at the school had been birthed and nurtured, and now it was time to return the favor, abandon their families and took the ship for their new lives.

In order to become a soldier willing to give their lives for this dimension, their home.

They were all received with all the cheers, fanfare and wide open arms that many of them had never imagined – for many people enjoy scaring little children with horror stories, but all that they are: stories – they were all so warm and happy to see them, everyone got a smile or a pat on the head or shoulders, you couldn’t give two steps before someone offered to show you around the place and when she finally managed to get away from all the attention she went to her assigned room finding all her stuff already out of her luggage and ordered and clean.

At night a great banquet is offered as a welcome, so huge that Asuka is not sure if she had ever seen this much food in her life, she knows others haven’t and eyes them up as the gobble it up happily, probably taking their fill for the first time of their lives.

She feels grateful enough – all that attention is exhausting – to ignore the small prickle of annoyance and uneasiness that someone _might_ have messed up with her stuff.

At the end of the day she managed to fit her thirteen years of life into that single suitcase.

 But all her tiredness and need for a rest manage to quiet the feeling down, so she lays on her bed, eyeing the brick roof, so different from the one at home and after attempting to count them for a second time her eyelids close for good.

The next morning when she awakes, all her clothes are gone, having been replaced by several sets of a blue and white uniform, even her sleep wear, shoes and underwear where replaced for what she assumed are the standard of the dress code, there are books on her library that were most definitely not here yesterday and all her personal effects are gone...

Notebooks, photographs, and little sweet nothing her parents had given her as a goodbye gift, all gone.

Asuka tries to calm down and wash off – quite literally – the child running down her back while she puts on her new clothes, which fit perfectly.

_‘Everything will be fine, everything will be fine....’_

This is her new home after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to do something about Asuka and this is the only thing that came to mind, I wanted to try and guess what would a first day at Academia be like.
> 
> For the Day 25 prompt: Fusion


	25. Synchronicity

There is no clear reason as to why Crow should ever let this boy stay with him.

He’s loud, badmouthed, has the shortest attention span he has seen since he himself was a child, and on top of it he eats like a horse or some sort of wild beast... not that’s too tame, he eats like a fucking dragon and after the third bowl of miso soup he shows no signs of being satisfied.

Crow has not even had the chance to ask for his name when he dragged him to his house after catching him touching at his D-wheel, probably trying to steal pieces.

The bowl cluttered on the wooden table after he finished, and he gave a content gasp.

“Done?” As an answer Crow got nothing but a burp. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Now that the boy seemed to have calmed down he took notice of his clothes; dirty, worn off and with several loose threads, the yellow and blue colors were probably bright before but now they looked washed off.

He also wore no shoes.

“What’s your name?” He asked picking up the plates.

“Uh...”

“Did heard me?” Crow asked raising his voice a little bit.

“I heard you!” The little boy yelled, his tiny feet risen on top of the table and had the nerve to pull out his tongue at him. “I’m not telling you! Bleh!” And he made a show of dashing towards him as if meaning to throttle him.

Crow had not given the boy the opportunity to even launch at him as he picked him up by the neck of his shirt, his legs trying to kick him.

“Let me go! Let me go!” 

“I’ll do it when I have your name!” He yelled too and something about his face changed at his tone too, he seemed to make himself even smaller than he was.

“..go.”

“What was that?”

“YUGO!!!” He yelled, his movements finally forcing Crow to drop him leaving the little rascal to hide under his table like a caged animal.

“Yugo?” He repeated and from below the table, blue eyes now shining with tears and a huge smile made way through his smeared face before he nodded eagerly. “What’s the matter?”

“You’re the first person who got my name right.” He said twiddling with his fingers.

Crow should just leave it at that, show him the way out and contact the nearest facility to take care of him, it’s not like there was anything special about his situation, if anything he looked better than most kids and...

***PIT* *PAT***

Rain, how he hated rain...

“Do you have a place to stay tonight?”

* * *

 

“Oi! Shinji! Look what the cat dragged, trying to steal our loot!” Shiniji looked up from his place at the dirty ground while still trying to see what was wrong with his engine.

There in between Tony and Damon there was a little girl with a faded pink dress, being the shorter of the two, Tony was the one holding up her hand to keep her from escaping, inside it there was a can of tuna.

Caught red-handed it seemed.

But the thing what caught his eye was the elaborate bracelet that shone on her wrist, if she was so hungry why didn’t she sold that trinket, it didn’t look cheap in the slightest.

“Leave her be, just take the can back and make sure she has not anything hidden on her-” Shinji had not finished the sentence when he saw the little girl who barely reached Damon’s thigh kick him on the shin after she elbowed Tony on his belly.

Both of them dropped to their knees, and she was looking down at them with a monumental glare, she walked to him holding the can on eye level:

“I took this because I noticed that you have boxes full of them under the tarps and didn’t thought you’d miss one... can I have it?” She asked and even through her vacant and cold eyes worthy of a demon he saw she was trembling underneath.

“What’s your name?”

“...Are you gonna hand me over to Security?”

“If I got near one of them, I assure you they’d be far more interested in me than you.”

“Rin.”

Shinji finally raised and sat to be on eye level with ‘Rin’ and handed her a can opener, she looked at it with the puzzling look and Shinji sighed taking the can from her hands and opening it for her, he placed it right into her hand, taking the chance to give her wrist a closer look.

As he suspected a small shift of her eyes made him aware of her observing skills.

“I don’t know what where expecting to get out from this without the proper tool but here.” He said letting go of her hand satisfied. “You know I need someone to help around here... Wanna learn how to build your own?” He asked tapping on his D-wheel.

Her eyes widened and shone with wonder, Shinji just patted her hair a little and said:

“Then _watch_ and **learn**.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an elaboration of a canon divergence AU I had in which Crow and Shinji raise Yugo and Rin together, for the Day 26: Synchro


	26. Overlay

“Look there she is!” Said one of the figures peeking a little from above one of the bushes.

“Where?!” The other one raised from their crouched position on the grounds, only to be shoved down forcefully on the ground again.

“Idiot! Don’t just stare! You’re gonna ruin our cover!” The one on the left, it was a good time as any to break this foolishness off.

He jumped right behind them and at the very least he admitted he ought to give them credit for not jumping out of their skins when they turned to see him.

“Your cover was blown the moment you thought you could use _these_...” He took off the fake bushes from their heads. “...were a proper camouflage, especially from the **Principal**.”

“Oh ... y-yeah? And who do you t-think y-you ar-are anyway?” One of them stammered.

“Yeah why are you always here anyway?” The other one said lifting himself to his eye level, probably the one with the idea in the first place. “We know you’re one of those trashes from the Xy-”

“Tenjo- _san_ is my guest.” Said a new voice behind Kaito and just like the students, he had to mask his surprise, at least until they left. “And I would appreciate you to treat him with the courtesy expected from Academia.”

When Asuka step forward next to Kaito, he watched with distaste how their faces morphed from scared and annoyed into ridiculous blushes and starry eyes while they nodded even if they’d probably heard none of her words.

The one who had stood up to him before was giving Asuka a very obvious once-over, stopping discretely at her chest... stupid precocious brat, as if she would spare a look to kids like them.

Kaito only saw them leave, promising Asuka to behave better to their future guests.

“Now, what’s with the pout? Is it one of your moody days?” She asked turning to him with the same gracious smile she had directed to them.

“Tch, I don’t know how you can stand scum like them in your school, they were trying to take pictures of you-” Kaito stopped talking when he felt his face being pinched and pulled to her.

“I know what they were doing, I know my way around their type, I don’t need you to handle that for me.” She said, still smiling but with a frown and a vein slightly popped on her forehead, when she finally let go of his cheek it felt sore and he bet it was red too.

Kaito glared at her, while thinking this.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Asuka said with a deadpan. “It’s better if they think I manhandle you... The last thing we need is more rumor of the Xyz former-hunter making _moony_ eyes at me when he thinks I’m not looking.”

.

.

.

_'...What?'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could not think of anything else for this prompt xD so here you have some fluffly and humorous robustshipping :P
> 
> For the day 27: Xyz


	27. Keepers

Somewhere in a place that holds no name, where time has stopped and fate has no meaning, they lay suspended in the gears of all existence. Where once, only the sound of moving mechanisms and the passing days and nights existed, there is nothing but silence and an eternal twilight.

Outside nothing but a wasteland full of bodies and splattered blood lay until the point where the sun is frozen in the sky.

Time cannot be re-winded, lives cannot be recovered and fate cannot be changed.

And yet... the clockworks lay now unmoving, all because of _them_.

On the floor there are intricate drawings of the end of the world when the Gate opened laying wasted upon mankind and all its creation, commanding them there is a looming shadow, the Beast that will unleash all the hatred and sins humanity has piled upon the earth.

Above those images _he_ lays chained from all his limbs powerless where he was once the epitome of strength, his eyelids sewn up by _her_ threads where these eyes were once able to see beyond the realm of reality they lay now unaware of even the slightest speck of dust, his wings were no more torn off by _her_ hands and the wounds by design will continue to bleed.

When time stops even Death stops meaning anything.

The ceiling are divided on four sections; each of the depicting the four corners of the world, the four elements, the four forces of nature from which all life was created, the four primeval states of existence, to gaze upon them would cause eyes to bleed and minds to break for those are things beyond the understanding of the mortal realm.

Suspended on top of _his_ hallowed being _she_ hovers, where there was once a glint of life, her eyes have long since crystalized along with time flow changing in hue and color depending on what they process about the prisoner she watches over, her body is made of light and darkness alike, and on her hands there are the fine threads that hold everything in place, her prisoner, time, fate...

Even herself, each one of them made of the finest of _her_ rays of light.

The Beast – Harbinger of Destruction, Demon, Sin Devourer – and the Maiden – Goddess, Doll of Salvation, Spear of Judgement –

One is Cursed and the other is Blessed, however both are Keepers.

When her threads snap and the clockworks start turning once more, Fate and Time will come for them at once seeking retribution.

Seeking the two of them... the bearers of the Mark... Which one of them is truly the Cursed one?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with this I'm officialy on track! And only two days to end... Yeah I know.
> 
> This is one of my weird pieces, needless to say this is a reimagining of Ray and Zarc, for the Day 28 prompt: Pendulum.


End file.
